MIAMI – Federal and local investigators haven’t found the bodies of an 8-year-old girl and her 42-year-old mother after they vanished in 2016 in Miami-Dade County. They did find enough evidence to prosecute a suspect about eight years later.
Records show Gustavo Castaño Restrepo had scratches on his arm when he told Doral detectives after a failed May 31, 2016 welfare check that he had abandoned his daughter Daniela with her mother, Liliana Moreno, the day before near the Turnpike and Okeechobee Road.
Miami-Dade detectives later learned Castaño Restrepo had fathered Daniela during an extramarital affair and he had kept her a secret from most of his family. He admitted to going to a warehouse that he owns in Medley where a burglar stole surveillance video.
“We’re waiting for the government to provide discovery, waiting for the government to disclose why eight years later, they’re arresting him,” Attorney Frank Gaviria said on Friday.
Castaño Restrepo, now 55, was in Miami federal court. His loved ones were there to support him. He had told police he dropped them off after an argument prompted Moreno to order him to drop them both off. Moreno’s family did not believe him.
Some of Moreno’s relatives traveled from Colombia to Miami to plea for help. Some knew about her on-and-off relationship with Castaño Restrepo. When they learned police had found her cell phone inside her apartment, they suspected she wouldn’t have voluntarily left without it.
Records show detectives had already seized Castaño Restrepo’s cell phone and Moreno’s when they found another cell phone in his pickup truck after a suicide attempt with a box cutter on June 2, 2016. The detectives also found suicide notes. One was for a detective: “Mr. Villano, you were right.”
Moreno’s brother, Eduardo Moreno, told Local 10 News five years later that he had faith that his sister and niece were still alive, and he added that while his family had made every effort to find them, Castaño Restrepo had never offered to help them.
FBI Special Agent Dave Clancy offered a $25,000 reward. Last year, the FBI also paid for over a dozen digital billboards with their photos and Clancy told Local 10 News that they were cooperating with law enforcement agencies in Colombia.
On Friday, Gaviria said Castaño Restrepo maintained his innocence and looks forward to fighting the accusations in court. His client has been at The Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.
“We are going to be fighting hard to get him out,” Gaviria said. “He has remained in the community, has ties to the community, and the support of his family. He is a homeowner. He is not a danger to the community. He is not a flight risk.”
A federal grand jury indicted Castaño Restrepo, also known as Castano, and he is facing two counts of kidnapping resulting in death. After the arrest, Eduardo Moreno told Local 10 News that news of his arrest was “really shocking and unbelievable.”
Castaño Restrepo’s arraignment is on Nov. 6.